PIKE IN PUERTO RICOOctober 2017 - Present

HURRICANE MARIA

"Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, pounding the U.S. territory with huge waves, massive rain and fierce winds and shutting down the power grid across the entire island of 3.4 million people. Maria made landfall on the island’s southeast section early Wednesday as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles an hour, the most powerful hurricane to hit Puerto Rico since a 1928 storm that killed more than 300 people."

Pike is called upon to help

A month after the hurricane struck, approximately 80% of Puerto Rico residents remained without power, and the situation was becoming a humanitarian crisis.

It was at this time that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers engaged Fluor Corporation, with Pike as its prime contractor, to restore Puerto Rico’s power grid.

we deployed our equipment expeditiously

October 23rd, 2017. We began sending equipment to support Puerto Rico restoration efforts, the first of which were delivered by Russian and Ukranian Antonovs to arrive immediately.

and our team mobilized quickly

Pike's damage assessorsmobilized quickly, and were in Puerto Rico within five days of contract award.

With much of the region's infrastructure still in a non-operational state, the first challenge was to assess the damage as effectively and as efficiently as possible.

puerto rico's infrastructure was still damaged when we arrived

"The storm devastated Puerto Rico’s water system, power grid, road network and cellphone infrastructure... Highways and bridges suffered heavy damage, cutting off some towns and hampering delivery of relief supplies such as food and water. Of Puerto Rico’s 5,073 miles of road, 392 were open earlier this week, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency."

“With the lack of electricity, everything gets more complicated.”

Ismael Pagan Trinidad, the director of the civil engineering and surveying department at University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez. - From the Wall Street Journal, October 20, 2017.

“We’re more vulnerable now because our infrastructure is very fragile.”

Ismael Pagan Trinidad, the director of the civil engineering and surveying department at University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez. - From the Wall Street Journal, October 20, 2017.

Once the grid damage was properly assessed, we started our restoration efforts in early november

we stay organized

Pike's mobile command center is in our laydown yard and helps to coordinate all activity on the island.

so that we can systematically restore power

We have been stationed on Puerto Rico for over three months. We are also the only contractor on the island of Vienques.

as safely and quickly as possible

Our crews work seven days a week from 6am to 6pm, through all holidays.

we are making progress

We have completed work on multiple transmission and distribution feeders so far.

but we know there is still much work to be done

Our crews are committed to helping the people of Puerto Rico return to normal daily life, through the restoration of power.

sometimes, we Restore more than power lines

In early December, Adam Pelham, Andrew Smith and their Puerto Rico crew went the extra mile. After seeing a boy on a bicycle without tires in the Rio Grande Estates area, the Pike crew was inspired to buy him a new bicycle. With a brand-new kid’s bike in hand, they approached the boy with the offer, “Do you want to trade bicycles?”

Stunned at first, the boy happily accepted.

Pike's Everyday Heroes

Adam and Andrew are Pike employees from Florida who have been in Puerto Rico since early November. Working tirelessly and professionally to restore power is second nature to our crews, but being away from family and friends for long is never easy.

pike linemen became santa this past christmas

Puerto Rico's local news station also covered this story, referring to the Pike crew as Santa Claus.

pike takes part in Three kings day

January 6th, 2018 was Three Kings Day in Puerto Rico. Pike’s engineering and construction teams collected toys and money to support this event, which was attended by over 200 people, and provided gifts and food to over 50 Puerto Rican families.

PIKE iS THE ONLY CONTRACTOR ON THE ISLAND OF VIEQUES

January 2018. Pike transported materials and equipment to Vieques to rebuild the island's grid.

WE get the job done

January 20th. Today, our crews managed to install numerous utility poles using a helicopter, because we couldn't get equipment to the site in any other way.

a work in progress

We are proud to be working with Fluor to restore power to Puerto Rico. Our current focus is on rebuilding large sections of the Puerto Rican grid near San Juan and the eastern part of the island, as part of what is expected to be a six to twelve month deployment.

We will continue to update this page as our work in Puerto Rico progresses. We thank our team for their hard work and dedication.